FUCKING STUPID HOMEWORK

[azurelunatic]

It has begun.

We are computer geeks here, and we do stuff literally and precisely. I just edited the Little Fayoumis's homework for the first time.

Instructions:

things you do: color green
names of things: color blue
how things look: color red

Trouble: the word "fast".
In context, it is clear to an adult who can see the pattern that it is a "how things look" word. It was so very not clear to Little Fayoumis.

Black marker time. Cross out "how things look", write in "descriptive words". Refrain from calling homework designers "morons". Also refrain from explaining to Little Fayoumis about the action of fasting, even though the homework designers are morons and/or culturally unaware.

By the fourth grade or earlier, swallowtayle and I found that most of the stupid worksheets insulted our considerable intelligence. Hey, remember Professor Ben Around?

Comments

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

Excellent.

That sounds familiar.

[hasfartogo.livejournal.com]

I was helping some friends who are Japanese but whose English is good.

We were going over the oldest's grade two math homework to make sure he got it right. Simple? Even I, whose native tongue is English was a little unsure what the homework was fishing for. I can only hope we got the right answer.

I think they have made the homework to complex by asking the kids to over think it too much. They should just memorize in the early grades and then de-construct it in the older grades.

Re: That sounds familiar.

[azurelunatic]

I like the analysis bits, but when something's phrased badly, it's phrased badly.

I think that learning to analyze things early is a life skill that can't be effectively duplicated by more of it later on. I credit most of my vast intelligence to the ability to pick things apart the way I do, and I credit that ability to practicing it with my parents before I was even old enough for school.

[boojum.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. Soon you'll have to explain to him why too much thinking causes problems in school. *sigh*

I can see why they wanted to avoid "descriptive" for second(?)-grader readers, but what's wrong with "how things act"?

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

Or how about "what things are like"?

[azurelunatic]

That's even vaguer, and would have had me screaming sooner.

[azurelunatic]

I'm going to explain it plainly, when he asks, that really most of the stuff in school isn't designed for someone as smart as he is. It's designed like grown-ups think kids are, which isn't usually quite how kids really are.

[azurelunatic]

"Red" was one of the descriptive words. Fast, red, tall, fat, ten, six...

[azurelunatic]

And it's 1st grade -- his birthday's on Sept 11, and the cut-off date's before that.